Can We Keep Him?
by mickeydubs
Summary: Helena brings home a stray cat. Based on prompt.


**Prompt: Helena brings home a stray cat. **

Can We Keep Him?

Sarah turned halfway in her chair at the sound of Felix's door being slid open. She and the other clones had taken to staying with her foster brother. It was a bit cramped with all of them, but with all that had happened, they all felt better with each other close by.

Helena stepped through the doorway, slightly hunched over, with her large, worn out coat zipped all the way up. Her eyes darted all around the room.

Sarah's eyebrows lifted. "Helena." The blonde clone's eyes snapped to her, filled with something Sarah almost wanted to identify as guilt. But not quite. "Where were you?"

Helena shuffled a few steps further inside the apartment. "I was out... for a walk."

"Right."

Sarah leaned back against an armrest, staring at her sister over the chair's back. Helena was starting to squirm, and Sarah couldn't decide whether or not she really wanted to press her about whatever it was that was causing it. Helena brought a hand up to her collar and toyed with the fringe of her hood.

Sarah shook her head. "You know it's like eighty degrees out. Aren't you a little warm in that?"

"Yes, it is very hot." She side-stepped past Sarah awkwardly. "I am going to the bathroom, now."

Sarah stood to close the door that Helena had left ajar and was almost bowled over by the odor that infiltrated her nose. "Whoa, jesus! Did you smell like that when you left?"

As she made to close the door, a hand stuck out to stop it and pushed it open again. A head full of dreadlocks poked through, and Cosima smiled at Sarah in greeting. "Hey. Hope you weren't talking to me just now." She stepped inside, pulling Delphine in behind her.

Sarah breathed a grin as she slid the door closed behind them. "No, Cos, I wasn't talking to you. I'm sure you smell like a bouquet of bloody roses. It's Helena. Girl smells like she hasn't seen a shower in years."

Sarah, Cosima, and Delphine all jumped when a loud crash sounded from the bathroom. They looked at each other with varying degrees of the same look of curiosity and apprehension.

Sarah approached the bathroom cautiously. She rapped her knuckles softly on the door and called, "Helena?"

The answer came immediately in a slightly panicked tone. "Yes. I'm fine. Don't come in."

With a furrowed brow, Sarah turned back around, only to be met with two faces bearing the same expression. Cosima and Delphine both had their heads tilted slightly to one side, features clearly arranged in a way that was meant to say, You know you have to go in there.

She sighed and muttered, "Yeah, alright. I know I'm gonna regret this."

She grasped the doorknob and twisted it slowly. Her forehead crinkled as she heard what sounded like Helena talking to herself. She pushed the door open, and a short, high-pitched yelp escaped her lips as a mangy orange cat scampered through the cracked doorway past her feet. She leapt backwards in surprise, lost her balance, and found herself landing with a breathless "oomf" on the floor.

The cat, whose fur was matted and missing a patch on one of its ears, had run full-tilt across the flat and stared at them from a tense perch atop the refrigerator.

Delphine had a hand over her mouth, and Cosima bit down on both of her lips. Sarah glared at their thinly veiled attempts at hiding their laughter from her impromptu seat on the ground. She eyed the cat and mumbled to herself, "I guess we know where that smell came from, then."

She took a hard, deep breath as she got back to her feet and leaned against the door frame. Helena stood in the center of the bathroom, clothes splattered with water. Her attempts at bathing the cat were evident. The sink was filled with clumps of fur and tiny pools of mud. "I'm sorry, sestra. I thought if I gave him a bath and made him clean, you all might... allow me to keep him."

Sarah rubbed a hand over her face. "Look, Helena, you can't just bring a stray animal in here and expect us-"

"Aw, look, he's friendly." Cosima meandered through the flat with the cat in her arms. Delphine, having followed her girlfriend to the kitchen poured some milk into a bowl. After returning the jug to the fridge, she brought the milk over and held it up to the cat so he could drink.

With her free hand, Delphine scratched his head. He purred and arched into her hand. "He is very well behaved."

Cosima grinned at her and leaned into her side. "It could be nice, having a pet around."

Helena stepped out into the living room, positively beaming at the support. She faced Sarah and grabbed at her folded arms. "Please, sestra?"

Sarah swatted her twin's hands away. "Look, I just don't think-"

The apartment door slid open for a third time, admitting Felix, with a giggling Kira riding piggyback. Felix glanced around at all of the faces that occupied his place. "What's this? Having a party without me? I'm almost offended."

Sarah rolled her eyes good-naturedly. "Don't worry, Fe. Nobody's even poured any drinks yet, you haven't missed anything fun." Felix shot his sister a sarcastic wink as he set Kira down.

The girl zoned in on the animal immediately.

"Mummy, Mummy, is that a cat? Is it ours? Are we keeping it?" Her eyes were wide with excitement - wider than usual - as she approached her aunt Cosima to pet the cat gingerly on his head.

"You see?" The hope in Helena's expression was undeniable. "They all want him too. Can we keep him? I will take care of him. I will feed him and give him bath and play with him and clean up after him. Please, Sarah?"

Kira ran up to Sarah and gripped her pant leg. "Yes, Mummy, please? I'll help Helena. We'll take good care of him and we can add him to our family, just like we did with Auntie Cosima and Alison and Helena and Delphine. Please, Mummy?"

Sarah looked around her and realized that every face in the room was casting her the same pleading look. Kira must have been teaching them all the art of making Mummy cave.

She heaved a great sigh. "Jesus. Alright! Fine. We'll try it out." When they all came forward to envelop her in a group hug, she added, "Just finish that bath! If I have to keep smelling him, you'll all be the strays."


End file.
